Jump on the Bandwagon
by Phunk Sisters
Summary: Kiba has gone missing! Kouybi and friends set out to find him. On the way back, he mentions something... All pairings with OCs
1. Kiba's Missing

"Kiba's missing."

"He-he-he…he's missing?"

"Gone. Left Konoha last week. Told people he was going to Suna. He hasn't shown up here."

Sana's news pushed me down, like an invisible hand, onto my couch. I stared into space, not believing, not wanting to believe.

"They're sending a search party."

"You have to let me go!"

"I'm sure they'll let you. Just go ask."

I bounded through the dusty streets of Suna, racing toward the Kazekage's castle.

"Gaara, you have to let me go with the search party!"

"You are already going."

"Thank God!"

The search party included Sana, Mao, Kibasa, Kami, Mimi, and Wakana-the sand ninja he knew best. We packed supplies as fast as we could, racing away from Suna.

"I'm sure he'll be fine, Koyubi. He's a strong ninja."

"But…he's been missing for a week!"

"Maybe he got lost."

We followed the route most ninja use to get from Konoha to Suna. We were on our second day of travel when we saw something.

"Is that…Akamaru?"

"I think it is!"

"Maybe he knows where Kiba is!"

We dropped down to the ground. It was, in fact, Akamaru. We followed him into the forest. He kept on going and going. Kibasa translated everything he said to us.

"He says Kiba's hurt."

"He's hurt? How?"

"He says we'll see."

It seemed like forever. Kibasa chattered with Akamaru the whole way. It seemed like Kibasa was getting irritated, but it was hard to tell. We broke through the trees.

"Kiba!"

"Koyubi?"

"Oh my God, you're alive!"

I ran to him like a seven year old to a birthday present. He was sitting up, his back against a tree. He looked weak, like he couldn't sit up by himself.

"We were so worried!"

"I'm sorry. I would have sent Akamaru, but he had to take care of me."

"At least you're alive!"

He raised one of his hands, slowly but surely, to touch my face. I held it there, closing my eyes, thinking how lucky I was to be able to do this. He pulled my face closer to his, our lips meeting. I let go of his hand and put my hands behind his head, bringing him closer still. He pulled away after a few seconds, panting.

"Did I hurt you?"

"No-no that's okay."

"Wait, Akamaru told Kibasa you were hurt. We brought Sana…"

He nodded, and I turned around. Everyone was waiting at the edge of the clearing. I motioned to Sana, and she came over to us.

"Sana. Hello."

"Hello, Kiba. So, do you know where you're hurt?"

"Yes. I got distracted and fell out of the trees. I think I broke a leg."

Sana started running her hands over his leg, glowing with green chakra. I held Kiba's hand lightly, squeezing when he flinched. I watched Sana's face, searching for signs of emotion. Her face was scrunched up in concentration, and then relieved.

"Yes it's just a break. Nothing serious. Nothing I can't fix easily."

"Will we have to take him home? Or can you fix it here and now?"

"We should take him back."

Mao and Kibasa were by us now; Kibasa crouched on his other side, Mao hovering over Sana. Sana was wrapping Kiba's leg in a makeshift splint, with some sticks and extra fabric she kept with her. Kiba had his eyes closed.

"Okay, someone has to carry home while we travel."

"I can carry him!"

"Of course, Koyubi."

I gently worked my arms under Kiba's body and lifted him. I could tell he would have been heavy for someone else, but my jutsu required strong arms. His eyes opened, and he smiled when he saw I was carrying him.

"Koyubi."

"We're going to Suna to heal you. I'm carrying you there."

"Sorry I can't walk by myself."

I smiled, and took off. Akamaru looked worried, but bounded behind me. Sana was in front of the group, Mao, Kibasa, and everyone else was behind me. Kiba was still awake, gazing at me. I would have gazed back, but I had to concentrate on the path ahead.

"Koyubi? You know what distracted me and made me fall?"

"Mmm, no, what?"

"I was thinking about you."

I blushed. Dang it, why did I have to be the purpose of his injury? At least I was making up for it by carrying him home. I guess it wasn't _really _my fault…

"You broke your leg thinking about me?"

"Best reason I can think of to break a leg."

"Oh, shut up."

More blushing. He had such a way with words, a way that made me blush… I was getting behind. I bounded to catch up with Sana. Kiba closed his eyes, again, tired from the last few days.

"It's getting dark, Sana. Do you think we should stop?"

"I guess so."

"I'll tell the others."

I fell back to inform Mao, Kibasa, Mimi, Kami, and Wakana. They nodded their agreement, and we jumped down out of the trees. Kibasa and Mao set up the first tent, which I laid Kiba in. his eyes fluttered open.

"I'm going to go set up a few more tents, okay?"

"Yeah, okay. Don't worry about me."

"I won't. K, I'll be back in a bit."

I walked back out and helped them set up their three other tents: Two people per tent. Once we were done, I re-entered me and Kiba's tent. He was still awake, staring at the ceiling of the tent.

"How are you feeling?"

"Better, I guess. Sana is very skilled."

"Yeah. You can go to sleep if you want. I'll be awake all night, I bet."

He smiled in reply, shutting his eyes. I knelt beside him and stroked his soft hair. He was soon breathing deeply, sound asleep. I lay down on my side, propped up by my elbow, and gazed at him. I was so tired…


	2. Home Again

"Koyubi! Wake up!"

"Grnnh... Holy crap, I was asleep?"

"Yep. Now come help us pack."

I leapt up from the tent floor. How had I fallen asleep? Back outside, I helped pack up the three tents. When they were all packed, I went inside mine and picked up the still sleeping Kiba. He didn't wake. I waited as the others packed up our tent, and then we took off.

"Koyubi, did Kiba tell you why he fell?"

"Um… I think I'll let him tell you himself, Mimi."

"O… kay."

I blushed some more, and she looked back and forth between the two of us, which made my face even redder. She obviously suspected that it had something to do with me. She grinned, the corners of her eyes crinkling as she sped up to catch up with Sana.

"Koyubi, how much further?"

"Kiba! You're awake! Um, it's a little after noon, and we should be there by nightfall.

"Oh. A while then. Well, I have you to talk to."

I nodded, and he started talking about everything that had happened on his attempted journey from Konoha. It was a fairly boring tale, until he got to the part where he fell, and the following week.

"Akamaru turned into a clone of me, and cared for me."

"I wish I could have been there to care for you!"

"That would have been nice…"

It wasn't long until we stopped for a water break. I held the bottle to Kiba's lips. When he had his fill, I slurped up the rest. Mimi came and sat down beside me. I knew she was up to something by the look on her face.

"Sooo, Kiba, Koyubi wants you to tell me why you fell."

"Oh. I was thinking about her, and I got distracted."

"Oh, is that so?"

She raised an eyebrow at me. I did a sort of "Who, me?" gesture, looking dramatically surprised. The whole thing was ruined by my involuntarily reddening face, making Mimi laugh. Kiba noticed too, and joined in, chuckling.

"You really do get embarrassed by that, don't you?"

"Oh yeah, like you wouldn't!"

"No, no, it's funny!"

Sana rounded us all up, and we started moving again. We were so close to Suna. Only one more hour until we got there, if we kept up our current speed. Mao made me jump by sneaking up behind me.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you!"

"S'okay."

"Just wanted to talk to Kiba. Haven't seen him in a while."

Kiba and Mao had a long conversation, mostly about Shikamaru. This made the conversation very boring, in my opinion and I tuned them out. Until, that is. I heard something interesting…

"You do know that Shikamaru proposed, right?"

"Yeah, I saw the announcement. Maybe I should jump on the bandwagon."

"Hey, you should!"

They obviously knew I never listened when they talked about Shikamaru. Wow. I had, in fact, heard about Mao and Shika's engagement, and wondered if I would be next. Maybe I would. All of a sudden, I saw Suna, a few lights on with the coming darkness. I let out a sigh of relief, glad to be nearing home.

"We're almost there!"

"I'm so glad to be back."

"Yeah, I get homesick every mission."

Once back in Suna, we took Kiba to the medical center. I laid him in a bed in one of the empty rooms, pulling the sheets over him. As I sat down on the edge of the bed, he took my hand with one of his. Suddenly, I was overwhelmed. All the feelings pent-up feelings I had of fear, and worry, and needing Kiba came flowing out in the form of tears.

"Don't cry, Koyubi! I'm safe."

"I-it's just-I was so scared that you-"

"It's alright. We're safe now."

I put my head on his shoulder, sobbing for all I was worth. His strong arms encircled me, understanding my fear, knowing it was better for me to sob it out. My sobs quieted, my body stopped shaking, and my inner peace returned. I wiped my eyes and tried to appear normal. Just in time, too, because Sana entered the room at that moment.

"Okay, Koyubi, you've gotta leave now. I'm going to do a little healing to hold him overnight."

"Can't I stay with him?"

"It would be very boring. Just-just get out."

I walked out, grumbling. The rest of our party was talking amongst themselves. They looked up as I walked in, curious as to the condition of Kiba.

"Sana's healing him now."

"Oh good. He'll be alright, I'm sure."

"Yeah. She kicked me out."

Mimi chuckled. All of a sudden, I was clobbered by Kibasa in a giant bear hug. (Although in her case, I guess it would be a dog hug.)

"MMPPHHGGH! Enough with the death by hugging!"

"Sorry, Koyubi, but I missed hugging you!"

"You could show your friendship in a less violent way!"

Everyone laughed at the ever-comedic Kibasa, letting out any leftover stress. Small talk and inside jokes made up our little conversation, until finally Sana came out of Kiba's room.

"K, I'm done with healing for tonight."

"Sweet! So, can we visit him?"

"Sure, just don't, you know, injure him."

Wakana glanced at Kibasa, smiling. She grinned sheepishly. We filed into the room. I went over to the bed where Kiba sat. Sat! By himself! I looked at him, stunned. He read my expression and grinned.

"Told you she was skilled!"

"I knew that, but still! You're sitting up!"

"Yeah, she said I would be able to walk by the end of the week."

Kibasa gave him her gentlest hug, which only caused him to let out a muffled hello. No screams of pain, which was good. The others made a semi-circle around the bed and flooded him with questions.

"Okay, okay, one at a time. Umm… Mimi. Shoot."

"You should tell them why you broke your leg, ne?"

"Sure! It was because I was thinking about Koyubi, got distracted, and fell."

He has no shame, I thought, as he pulled me to him and kissed me on the cheek. I blushed slightly, but my friends were used to Kiba's public displays of affection. More questions were asked; how had he stayed alive, how long had he been alone, et cetera. I already knew everything, so I just stroked his hair absentmindedly. Eventually, we all had to go home. I kissed Kiba goodbye, promising to return.


	3. He's Healed!

"Koyubi?"

"Oh, hey, Sana. What?"

"Kiba will be done in a minute, okay?"

I nodded, and Sana disappeared into the room she'd come from. I was in the small waiting room that several hospital rooms were attatched to. I had been here for only about five minutes, waiting for permission to see Kiba. I prepared to settle down for a while, but then I heard a door open. I looked up.

"Kiba! You're- you're- walking!"

"Yep, as of today! Sana wanted me to surprise you."

"She's so smart."

I hugged him carefully, making sure not to squish him. He kissed my forehead. I released my hold on him, and he led me down the hall. I tried to ask where we were going, but he shook his head and kept walking. He stopped at the front desk and said something to the guy there. Then, he led me out the doors.

"Where are we going, Kiba?"

"I'm taking you to lunch."

"Oh! Well, thanks!"

We hadn't been on a date in a while, it was true. He'd been in Konoha until he'd left on his fateful journey. I hadn't seen him for a long time. We went to a locally owned restaurant for lunch, the one we'd gone to on our first real date. He knew me so well…


	4. Mao's House

"Here we are."

"Thanks for lunch, Kiba."

"The pleasure is mine. Definitely…"

He trailed off as our lips met. I grabbed his other hand, savoring the contact. I unlocked the door and squeezed his hand.

"Goodbye."

"I'll see you soon. Love you."

"Love you too."

I watched him leave. When he was out of sight, I shut the door. My cat, Kegawa, wound herself around my legs, mewing for food. I set my bag on the table and went to feed her.

"Here you go, Kegawa."

"Nyaa, nyaa."

"Aww. Okay, I've got to go check the mail."

I shuffled through the mail until a thick, fancy looking envelope caught my attention. I carefully opened it.

**Inazuma Mao **

**and **

**Nara Shikamaru **

**Request your presence at a celebration of their marriage**.

Familiar words. I'd designed the invitation, after all. Mao had put me in charge of the details of her wedding. I had many designs for her wedding dress, with one picked out that would probably be hers. I sighed. I desperately wanted Kiba to 'jump on the bandwagon' and propose. Someone knocked on my door.

"Hey, what up, Kami?"

"Hey, did you get Shika and Mao's invitation?"

"Of course! Without my magic, those invitations wouldn't exist!"

She giggled as I let her in. As if by a magnet, she was attracted to the invitation on the table.

"I still can't get over how pretty it is."

"I still can't get over the fact that they're getting married."

"True, true. And you were there when he proposed."

We had known Shikamaru was going to propose long before he actually proposed. He'd told a few of his guy friends, who had told their friends. When it got to Sasuke, he'd told Sana, and of course she couldn't keep her mouth shut. We had all known except Mao, and and Wakana, Sana and I had been at her house having a sleepover when he'd shown up and proposed in her rooftop garden.

"Seems like such a long time ago."

"True that, true that. Want to go congratulate her again?"

"Okay! She's probably at home."

We walked the short didtance to Mao's house and knocked on the door. After a few minutes, it was opened by a breathless Mao.

"Sorry! I was upstairs. Sana's here!"

"We just got our invitations. We came to congratulate you."

"Oh, thanks! Come on in."

We followed her down the hall and up the stairs. Sana leaned out of Mao's bedroom, exclaimed that we were here, and ran to attack us.

"No, no, not the Sana-tackle!"

"Yay, you're here!"

"Calm down, calm down."

We went into Mao's room. Apparently, a tornado had struck. Or, as Mao explained, she had ransacked the room looking for the "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue."

"I found the 'something old.'"

"Cool! What is it?"

"It's my mom's veil from her wedding."

Now she was searching for the "something borrowed." She explained how Sana had lent her a necklace she's worn when she got married, and now she couldn't find it.

"It was in my jewelry box, but you know how messy I am."

"True that. I see you've looked all over."

"Yep. I don't know where it could be!

We rummaged around some more. I brushed up against some clothes in her closet and heard a clink. There was the necklace!

"I found it! Mao, I found the necklace!"

"Really? Great!"

"That's the last time I lend you anything, Mao."


	5. To Konoha

We called them and they agreed to cater the wedding. One less thing to worry about. There were more and more calls, lists and bustling, and before we knew it, the wedding loomed before us. The week of the wedding, we traveled to Konoha. Everything was perfect for the wedding. Kiba had gone home a while ago, and we were meeting everyone in Konoha. Mao was fluttery and nervous the whole way. I couldn't say I blamed her. When we got there, all our friends and boyfriends were waiting outside of the gates. Kiba ran toward me as soon as he saw me. He grabbed me around the waist and kissed me elaborately on the lips.

"Wow! I missed you too!"

"I missed you more."

"Whatever. Come on, I want to say hi to other people!"

I greeted several of my other friends, hugging them and saying how much I missed them. Shikamaru's parents hugged Mao tearfully, exclaiming how glad they were that she would be their daughter. Kiba took my hand and led me into the city. We stopped at a hotel hear the center of the village. I checked in and walked to my room.

"You could stay at my house if it wasn't so small."

"That's okay. I'll be fine here."

"Put your stuff down and we can go out for dinner."

Turns out we had a double, sorry, triple date with Mao, Shikamaru, Sana, and Sasuke. There was much toasting of the wedding and congratulating of the couple. Kiba walked me back to the hotel afterward.

"I'm so happy for them."

"Yeah, almost makes me want to-never mind."

"Wait, want to- want to-"

I was cut off by his answering kiss. Want to get married? Was that it? I certainly hoped so. To tell the truth, I was jealous of Mao and Shika too.

"Goodbye, Koyubi."

"But-but-"

"See you tomorrow."

He walked down the hall, a little spring in his step. I watched him go, puzzled. Once I cam to my senses, I unlocked the door to my room and went in. My luggage was still in a pile by the door. I managed to put some of it away before I fell asleep.


End file.
